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The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

theguardian.com

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Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#71

Post by nickik »

donutdan4114 wrote: post #11

As someone who has shifted to a sugar-free, high-fat lifestyle (keto diet), I can attest to the fact that sugar really is the ultimate evil in terms of health and nutrition. I've lost about 100lbs in 2.5 years... The only thing that I really changed was doing a Keto diet. I've learned a lot about nutrition along the way, and it's amazing how bad nutrition info was when I was growing up.. Common Misconceptions I hear/…

What about something like Diat Coke? Could I still drink it, even when avoid other sugar? Because thats my coffee.

Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#72

Post by bigtex »

donutdan4114 wrote: post #11

As someone who has shifted to a sugar-free, high-fat lifestyle (keto diet), I can attest to the fact that sugar really is the ultimate evil in terms of health and nutrition. I've lost about 100lbs in 2.5 years... The only thing that I really changed was doing a Keto diet. I've learned a lot about nutrition along the way, and it's amazing how bad nutrition info was when I was growing up.. Common Misconceptions I hear/…

While not on a keto diet, I am on a low-glycemic diet (also known on the web as the Trim Healthy Mama diet). Meals are either high fat and low to no carb or moderate carbs and low to no fat. You avoid all sugars but use alternatively like stevia, etc. I have lost over 35 lbs and kept it off to with no exercise. I mean I can eat on plan cheesecake as a meal and the next day lose weight. Also I don't count calories.

Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#73

Post by donutdan4114 »

sageabilly wrote: post #64
donutdan4114 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Breakfast: 4 strips of bacon if I'm hungry.. Usually just skip breakfast and have 2 cups of coffee, extra cream, no sugar. Lunch: I eat broccoli and carrots with some dip. Salads are also good (avoid sugary dressings though!). Dinner: A meat and vegetable side. Tacos with low-carb wraps.. Pizza made of mozzarella cheese dough. Diet soda is okay on Keto. Obviously water is the best thing for you. My favorite site for…

What's your daily caloric total? No breakfast plus just veg for lunch sounds like you're on an extremely low calorie diet, which will work for just about anyone regardless of if it's keto or not.

It is very hard to hit 1800+ calories on a keto diet. You have to add a lot of fat to things. This means eating a little... Abnormally.

Such as eating baked cheese, adding extra butter (any fat) to meals. Avocado is a great fat-packed vege. Lots of cream cheese..

Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#74

Post by J-dawg »

bosdev wrote: post #17
greggman wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried stevia for a while. It doesn't come even close to sugar's flavor and eventually I just gave it up.

It absolutely does not have the same flavor, no artificial sweetener does. But if you decide to not have sugar, you can grow to enjoy it in a different way. For me, for example, regular Coca-Cola is just non-existant in my world at this point. I drink Coke Zero, and I like it. I'm sure the sugar full version tastes better, but I've decided that's just not an option for me.

I drink a lot of sugar-free cola, and to my dismay there seems to be mounting evidence that diet soft drinks actually contribute to weight gain, possibly by altering gut fauna. [0]

As with all nutrition advice, I find myself wondering what to do with this information (other than kicking my diet coke habit just to be on the safe side). Good science takes time, but I want to make decisions that benefit my health right now. Any that's before you even get into the crazy amount of pseudo-science and quackery that exists around nutrition.

It would be great if anyone knowledgable about the subject could add their two cents!

[0] http://time.com/3746047/diet-soda-bad-belly-fat/

Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#75

Post by djsumdog »

donutdan4114 wrote: post #11

As someone who has shifted to a sugar-free, high-fat lifestyle (keto diet), I can attest to the fact that sugar really is the ultimate evil in terms of health and nutrition. I've lost about 100lbs in 2.5 years... The only thing that I really changed was doing a Keto diet. I've learned a lot about nutrition along the way, and it's amazing how bad nutrition info was when I was growing up.. Common Misconceptions I hear/…

There was an article up here about the problem with energy measurement in modern food sciences. Calories/KJs are poor measures of energy density in food.

I have to agree with you. Over two years ago, a friend of mine got me interested in Keto. That 2nd week was kinda rough with my body going through sugar withdrawal, but after that it's been nothing but amazing. I rarely eat bread, pasta, potatoes, noodles etc.

I went from nearly 70kg down to 61~62kg in a year, and have stayed around there for well over two years (I was down ti 59kg, but I think that was more muscle loss than fat loss).

It's been life changing. I have better energy levels, am in a better mood, etc.

It's not for everyone. I work at a desk all day and only cycle on the weekends. If you use a lot of energy (play sports everyday or are a runner), your body may need more carbs, but even then it should really be in the forms of fruits (high fibre, lower GI, lower insulin response), possibly starchy vegetables like corn and potatoes. There's a huge lack of education though on how much energy is in corn/potatoes or even peas/carrots. It's a lot! Even our oranges have been bread over the past few hundred years to be much much sweeter than they use to be. Corn use to have significantly more protein, but those varieties have been mostly bread out.

Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#76

Post by donutdan4114 »

nickik wrote: post #71
donutdan4114 wrote: post #11

As someone who has shifted to a sugar-free, high-fat lifestyle (keto diet), I can attest to the fact that sugar really is the ultimate evil in terms of health and nutrition. I've lost about 100lbs in 2.5 years... The only thing that I really changed was doing a Keto diet. I've learned a lot about nutrition along the way, and it's amazing how bad nutrition info was when I was growing up.. Common Misconceptions I hear/…

What about something like Diat Coke? Could I still drink it, even when avoid other sugar? Because thats my coffee.

Technically speaking, on a low-carb diet, you can drink all the diet soda you want. Although you'd have to see how they effect your insulin levels and such, as some people are effected by it more than others.

There's obviously a lot of other potential concerns regarding "artificial sweeteners"... But I'll take my chance with those over sugar.

Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#77

Post by phil248 »

sickbeard wrote: post #55

The greatest danger is overeating our past our caloric limits. It's not sugar or fat or whatever, it's calories. Lets stick to that.

But that's not true since our bodies process different foods in different ways. Marathon runners don't eat a bunch of steak fat before a run.

Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#78

Post by AndrewKemendo »

bosdev wrote: post #13
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #10

The major thing I took away from both the article and the comments originally submitted a few days ago is that nutrition science is too hard to create a one-size fits all guideline to what people should eat. If we have to have a one-size fits all solution to nutrition however, my anecdotal guess is that the answer shouldn't be what we should eat but how much. Namely as long as people aren't over or under eating they…

Is that really true? Or is the evidence pretty much in that all people shouldn't really be eating refined sugar?

I don't think it's conclusive - that's my point.

I think it is conclusive that there are no old obese people.

Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#79

Post by djsumdog »

Tharkun wrote: post #70
chris_va wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(1) is technically incorrect. Humans have evolved to process fructose into triglycerides in the liver. This is different than getting a glucose spike in the bloodstream. (2) unfortunately reality is complicated. Most of what you care about is the glucose curve after consumption. You are correct in that different foods cause different curves. This will change per person, and some people will spike on soda, and some (s…

(1) Not really. The liver does a good job of handling small amounts of fructose, as present in many sweet fruits and such. But in high quantities, as in HFCS soda, it's unable to cope and you will end up with waaaaay too much triglycerides. Which, unlike glucose, cannot be regulated by insulin.

Have you looked at the numbers for fruit juice vs soda? Fruit juice has more fructose than most sugars.

None of the orange juice on the shelves is even made from squeezed oranges. They add flavor packs (often made from oranges so they can get away with it being 100% juice; and yes this goes for the natural/organic brands as well).

When you consume oranges, the fiber helps your body feel full. The fiber also helps reduce the insulin response and changes the absorption process. In juice form it digests very differently.

Orange juice is not healthy (and really, neither are oranges in large quantities).

Re: The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health

#80

Post by vixen99 »

chris_va wrote: post #33
donutdan4114 wrote: post #11

As someone who has shifted to a sugar-free, high-fat lifestyle (keto diet), I can attest to the fact that sugar really is the ultimate evil in terms of health and nutrition. I've lost about 100lbs in 2.5 years... The only thing that I really changed was doing a Keto diet. I've learned a lot about nutrition along the way, and it's amazing how bad nutrition info was when I was growing up.. Common Misconceptions I hear/…

(1) is technically incorrect. Humans have evolved to process fructose into triglycerides in the liver. This is different than getting a glucose spike in the bloodstream. (2) unfortunately reality is complicated. Most of what you care about is the glucose curve after consumption. You are correct in that different foods cause different curves. This will change per person, and some people will spike on soda, and some (s…

Well yes, fruit juice is fine in moderation (especially since it contains polyphenols and carotenoids) which is your point I think. However fruit juice makes it all too easy to take much more sugar than if you ate the raw fruit. As you say, fructose metabolizes to lipid in the liver but it's easy to over do it.

'a high intake of fructose (>20% of energy) can have a deleterious effect on lipid levels.'

[just like alcohol]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2682989/

Small point: fructose is a ketose sugar so fruit juice is indeed 'sugar water' - confusing bearing in mind the different metabolic fates of glucose and fructose.

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